


Limoncello

by Everett_Harte



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: As nice as he can anyways, Bedelia gets her flirt on, But they just kiss a bit...shh, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hannibal kink meme, Possessive Hannibal mentioned, Season 2, Some Humor, Will Graham Has a Nice Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 22:04:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1320820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everett_Harte/pseuds/Everett_Harte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during episode 3 of season 2.  Before Will starts his trial, there are unexpected delays, and unexpected visitors.  Not that he minds either.</p>
<p>A kink meme response asking for "Bedelia/Will, literally anything."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Limoncello

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Лимонный ликер](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6527134) by [Yallen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yallen/pseuds/Yallen)



> I wrote this in response to this prompt: http://hannibalkink.dreamwidth.org/3819.html?thread=6508011#cmt6508011
> 
> Because for a moment, I thought Bedelia was going to kiss Will through the bars in episode 2. 
> 
> Please excuse any errors. It goes without saying, but I don't own Hannibal.

He sat in an antechamber of the courthouse, pulling on the knot of his tie and leaning forward in his chair. His trial had been delayed and Will didn’t even know why. His lawyer had left to make calls; but the jittery movements of his fingers meant an impromptu smoke break. Will rested his head in his hands and massaged his temples. He couldn’t stop thinking that this was ominous.

“It appears luck is favoring my timing Mr. Graham,” Bedelia Du Maurier stated as she closed the side entrance door, “Your judge is delayed at the airport for an indeterminate amount of time.” Will’s head turned, still cradled in his hands, and glanced between his fingers. She was dressed in a deep cranberry dress, carefully folding her black coat over her arm. He was struck by her smooth movements and how similar her mannerisms were to Hannibal.

Or perhaps it was that Hannibal had crafted his professional demeanor on his own doctor’s. His humanity too thin to portray a sympathetic psychiatrist for longer than necessary. A more professional demeanor allowing more leeway. The hardships in the life of an intelligent psychopath.

He sat up, “Dr. Du Maurier. Just ‘Will’ please. I didn’t get to thank you for your last visit,” Will rubbed at his stubble wishing he had his glasses on him. Too much of a security risk when he was by himself. “You---well, your words really helped.” A soft chuckle left him, “I can see why Hannibal keeps seeing you.”

Bedelia smiled tightly. Odd, Will thought. She put her coat on the back of a chair and leaned against the accompanying desk. Her nails lightly tapped against the wood grain.

“Then call me ‘Bedelia’ Will,” she said. “As for Hannibal, after I retired, he still arrived at his usual appointment time at my house,” her nails tapped faster, “He simply refused my retirement.”

Well, that cleared up a lot then. Will wasn’t the only one Hannibal refused to let go. Perhaps his possessive attachment was the only form of relationships the psychopath could form. And really, Will needed to stop profiling everyone and everything.

“He showed up at my hotel room in Minnesota with breakfast when I was on the Shrike case. I answered the door in my underwear.” The resulting laugh was loud and completely spontaneous. Bedelia brought a hand up to muffle the sound. It was worth the self-deprecation.

She smiled softly, “It appears that I don’t know all there is about you after all Will.”

“I’ve been wondering about that. What exactly would he say about me? Or is that still covered by doctor-patient confidentiality?”

Bedelia pushed away from the desk and walked around the small room. It reminded him of his times spent in Hannibal’s office, picking up books and gathering his thoughts. She finally turned towards him.

“I’ve decided to take an extended sabbatical. In fact, I’ve informed my patient that I will be unable to further treat him.”

“He must have taken that as well as your first retirement.”

“As I’m leaving my profession and the country, I suppose I can divulge a few things. Perhaps they’ll help your profile.” She smirked and crossed her arms loosely “It’s fair to say he took my leaving about as well as when you said you weren’t friends anymore.”

Will huffed a small laugh, “God, who knew intelligent psychopaths had the emotional depth of a 10 year old.”

“I think that’s a disservice to 10 year olds everywhere. They’re far less melodramatic,” Bedelia glanced at Will. He ducked his head to hide his smile. When was the last time he had smiled? She leaned against the desk again, tucking strands of hair behind her right ear. He couldn’t quite meet her eyes, but he hovered around the revealed earring.

“Hannibal discussed many things of a mundane nature. Enough to fill a session, but not enough to fully necessitate my level of therapy. It was as if he was testing his ‘person suit’ on me and fine tuning its structure. That was until he met you. He spoke of Will Graham and his pure empathy. How he was helping you ‘look’. He had many colleagues and associates, but you were the only one he called ‘friend’. You fascinated him. And I must confess, you fascinate me.”

Ah, of course, “You want to study me. See what makes me tick?” he clenched his jaw. “I’ve already had one psychiatrist in my head manipulate me for his own ends. There’s another ineffectually trying to get into my head for his own gains. Why would you want inside? Hmm? Perhaps to see what a killer saw as ‘friend’,” he spat as he pushed from his chair and circled around the desk.

“As hard as it may be to imagine, my curiosity is purely personal in nature.”

A frown descended on her face as her eyes held his. An edge of desperation peaked through as she lightly tapped her fingers against her elbows. Perhaps he could listen. He didn’t need to take anything away from this conversation that he didn’t want to. He knew now how he needed to stay inside his own head more often if he was to vindicate himself. Will moved back to his chair. He didn’t feel the need to look away.  

Bedelia had a look of relief that shouldn’t have settled him quite as much. Having all your colleagues look at you like cannibalistic serial killer made you appreciate the little things.

“I feel stretched, world-weary, if you will. I entered my field with a genuine need to help people,” she walked over to the side of the room, “But then I was attacked by a patient. And on that day, who do you suppose had an appointment?” Bedelia pulled a chair over, sitting across from Will. It reminded him of the conversations he had with his friend, back when he thought he actually had a friend.

“Hannibal saved my life, and all I could think was, ‘if he hadn’t been here, I would have died.’ I was so grateful I overlooked how easily he killed that man. But it took me longer to see what I should have before. He is what I fear the most. Hannibal is malevolence dressed as benevolence,” her fingers clenched tightly. “He is dangerous because he hides in plain sight. Only you and I have peaked behind the curtain. The disturbing part is that before then, neither of us even suspected.” She held eye contact, “We only saw because he showed us.”

She must have felt the same ineptness he did when he looked back. They were both trained in their jobs to look, but didn’t see the one prominent red flag in their daily interactions. He didn’t feel quite as so bad now.

“I retired citing PTSD from the attack. Most of my patients were understanding; only one saw through it and refused. He knew that I finally saw beyond his human veil. And although he never threatened me, there was this potential for violence that he didn’t feel the need to disguise anymore. I could feel it underlie his words when he told me to speak with Agent Jack Crawford. I could see it in his eyes when he brought veal to my house. What could I do but continue?”  

“The structure of your professional life grounded you,” Will clenched his teeth and looked away, “Hannibal perverted your profession and made you hate what you had loved.” He met her eyes again, “I can understand holding on to the one thing that makes you feel sane, even to the extent of your own sanity.” He could see how tired she looked and could feel it reflected in himself. Traumatized indeed.

“You and I are the only two people that know what he is capable of and survived,” she glanced away and back to him, “and that is only because he deigned us our lives. Even then, I do not know how long even that will last. Nor do I understand his motivations for revealing himself. I suspect that we were mirrors to himself, people that could fully understand him.”

“And now he’s cashing out. I’m here as a form of experiment and no one believes me but you…you’ve finally had enough of the pantomime,” Will focused on her earring again. “You’re the smartest woman in the world Doctor.”

“‘Bedelia’, please Will. I don’t feel like I’ve lived up to my title in a long time. I wish there was more I could do for you,” she stared off towards the one window in the antechamber. “But Hannibal has endeared himself to enough people to make any accusations seem absurd. I should have warned you, and for that, I am truly sorry,” she met his eyes again with a bright intensity. “But I will tell you that whatever you’re doing, he believes you. He wants his ‘friend’ back as desperately as a man like Hannibal is able.”

Oh, thought Will as he rubbed his beard. He had thought he had a snowball’s chance in hell of pulling one over Hannibal. Perhaps his attachments left him with blind spots as with other people; as Hannibal was once Will’s.

Or perhaps Dante was right in describing the ninth circle of hell as ice. Either way, snowballs were winning. God, he needed to sleep.  

“Thank you for your insights. And, there’s nothing to forgive Bedeila. You had to survive and the only way was to cooperate with him. If he had even suspected you would tell anyone, you would have been dead.” Will grabbed at the arm rests to steady himself, “You need to leave immediately after this. He’ll have found out you visited my cell from Dr. Chilton and will be hyper-vigilant.”

She stood up and smoothed out her dress. “I plan to, but I needed to make sure you understood,” the doctor crossed her arms and started tapping her fingers and abruptly stopped herself. “In fact, my coming here may have been a bit selfish. You’re the only one I can speak to concerning Hannibal truthfully. I feel…lighter now. As if there is a glimmer of hope in the distance.”

He stood as well. Some past sense of good manners making themselves known. Will may not have held out much hope that he could overturn his charges, find evidence to implicate Hannibal, and put Hannibal behind bars; but he felt not as weighed down. There wasn’t only a possibility, it was wholly probable. Even a small glimmer was something. Hmm.

He glanced at Bedelia, “You know, when you visited my cell and came up to the bars, I was half sure you were going to kiss me.”

“That would have been unprofessional.”

“And yet, you’ve come to tell me you’re leaving your profession.”

“I actually came to offer you more solidarity. But po-tay-toe—”

“Po-tah-toe,” Will stepped closer to the doctor.

“Did you just flirt with me using potatoes?” Bedelia moved nearer and uncrossed her arms.

“You started it,” Will said as he lightly interlaced his fingers with hers. Enough to imply, but not constrain. Keeping eye contact was getting easier with her.

She laughed softly, “Perhaps.” She leaned up and let a moment pass for him to move away if he wished. When he kept looking at her, alternating between her eyes and lips, she moved. Leaning forward and tilting her head, she lightly pecked the corner of his mouth. Canting her head slightly, she moved to kiss him fully.

There were no fireworks and the Earth stayed firmly beneath his feet; but it was a sweet kiss shared between two damaged individuals. It didn’t have that taste of desperation and heat he had that night with Alana. But it was warm and felt firmly in reality. She knew him and saw just as clearly as he did.

And who knew Dr. Du Maurier was a biter? He wouldn’t have ever been able to hallucinate that. When they pulled apart, he could feel his bottom lip slightly swollen. She noticed too, if her smirk was any indication. She adjusted his tie and flattened his lapels before she moved back to gather her coat.

While putting it on and pulling her hair out from the collar, she said simply, “Come find me after Hannibal is convicted. I’ll owe you dinner.”

Will smirked, “Of course.” He led her to the door, intent on opening it for her, when she turned quickly and grabbed the back of his neck to kiss him once again. She ran her fingers through his curls as she left a large bite on the corner of his bottom lip.

“For luck,” she whispered and let herself out the door. A last look passed between the two as she turned down a hallway.

Will closed the door and slid his hand against the seam. It wasn’t simple probability now. There would be a reckoning.

 

***

 

The judge made it over the next hour. His connecting flight had been delayed by bad weather. Will hadn’t minded. He had spent the time thinking over what he would need to do to assure Hannibal’s conviction, how to convince Jack and Alana, and keep Beverly out of the crossfire. He spent only some of the time thinking of Bedelia. Well, it was fifty-fifty really.

His lawyer made it back only smelling slightly of smoke. They went over his notes quickly before they were called for opening statements. He was finally handed his glasses which he pushed as far down his nose as he could. Buttoning up his suit jacket, Will strode out to the courtroom. As he walked towards the defendant’s side, he spotted Hannibal in the audience. Will gave a slight nod before heading to his chair. Hannibal gave one of his small smiles before he stiffened and turned his head more towards Will, lightly tilting his chin upwards. Almost as if—

Will thought, did he just smell me?

 

**Author's Note:**

> And that's that! I've been looking to maybe write some quick one shots. If you have any ideas, shoot me a prompt at my tumblr!
> 
> everett-harte.tumblr.com


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